A BEREAVED family has told of their heartache and pride after losing their Royal Marine son to a sniper’s bullet in Afghanistan.

Father-of-three Lance Corporal Michael Thomas Taylor, 30, of Rhyl, was killed by a high velocity bullet to the neck while on a rooftop in Sangin in Helmand Province last June 22.

Despite desperate efforts to save the unconscious, bleeding patient - who had a hole the size of a 50 piece in the front of his neck - and an evacuation with a medical team by Chinook helicopter to Camp Bastion Hospital, he died later that day.

His family said they are devastated at his loss but he was a special person doing a hard job.

North Wales Central deputy coroner John Gittins, at a Llandudno inquest, recorded a verdict of unlawful killing.